Pages

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Tuesday Randomness: Insider Louisville highlights, the Big Four and Shakespeare

From the Big Four at night

I love my job. I can't imagine what I could possibly enjoy more than talking to inspiring people and then writing about those conversations.

Yes, at times, we at Insider Louisville refer to ourselves as "the Band of Misfit Toys." We're an odd bunch, but when you combine having the stomach to survive a startup AND being journalists, it isn't a big surprise that people willing to do both are a bit... off.

And lately– not to jinx myself or anything– things have just seemed to gel. Today when I finished an interview I, as always, thanked the subjects for sharing their stories with me. And one of the subjects responded, "I can't think of anyone better to go to with this." When I tried to postpone another interview until next week, the subject told me that the news was happening this week, and he said, "And I wanted to make sure you had first crack at the story." (Obviously, I canceled the reschedule.)

I've gotten emails from moms and dads thanking me for stories about their kids. I've gotten emails from moms (no dads yet) admonishing me for not writing about their kids (I'm working on it!). A subject's grandma wanted a "paper version" of a story I wrote (I had to say, "just print it out.")

Thank you, innovators and entrepreneurs and artists of Louisville for sharing your stories with me. I'm so lucky, and I am learning so much from you.

Roobiq reps Louisville in Silicon Valley... Adam Fish, who relocated his business, Roobiq, from Louisville to San Francisco came back for a visit and sat down with me and co-founder John Receveur to talk about his time at an accelerator and how the Valley was treating him.

Custom Rubber Composites: Lean manufacturing in Louisville... It's a dry business– manufacturing parts for heavy-duty conveyor belts– but fascinating to see a local manufacturer employing Lean Startup principals to their business. I also taught two of the co-founder's daughters, so it was nice to talk shop with a family I like.

Forest Giant puts teachers through a "mini-hackathon"... How could I not love this story? It brought me back together with Dave Durand, founder of Forest Giant and the big brain behind the startup team, City Anchor, that I won Startup Weekend with back in September. Dave remains a hero of mine.

The Big Four bridge is everything everyone says it is. It's a perfect 1.5 mile round trip walk almost to Indiana. The BF and I went late one night. I'll have to check it out during the day. I'm ashamed it took me so long, but I will be a regular.

I'm ambivalent about TWELFTH NIGHT at Shakespeare in the Park. It was long (we left at intermission around 10p) and kind of full of pomp. And non-Louisville actors? Unfortunate. But I am not ambivalent about the experience. There are few things nicer than watching theatre outdoors on a lovely summer evening. Bring snacks and non-alcoholic beverages. You can buy alcohol there. Don't believe the website when it says there's pre-show entertainment; there wasn't when we went.

On the same night I went to Shakespeare, I went to Burger Boy Diner. Yes, it's a greasy-spoon diner, but yes, it was also fantastic. Fabulous service, a reasonably well-appointed jukebox. I got a burger and fries for under $6 and couldn't have been happier with the experience.